WHAT IS A CORPORATION?

[reefermadness]

Originally Posted by Reef Pilot

Let me just say that life is never fair, and I am not going to waste my energy fretting about it. Life is too short to be unhappy. What is more important is to make the most of what we have and the opportunities that come our way. That includes making good choices and helping our kids, as well as those less fortunate than ourselves.

And be thankful for what we have. Hmmm, isn't that what this past weekend was supposed to be about?....

So you are saying women should stop worrying about equal pay for equal work. Minorities should stop fretting about discrimination. African Americans should have been happy enough as slaves. People with out food and water should be thankful they have air. People who lost there life retirement savings or could not retire when they planned to because of the wallstreet crash should just be quite. Students with thousands of dollars in debt should be happy cause although they can't find a decent job in their field they do have a job (although its at walmart).

You start out by saying life is never fair and you shouldnt worry about it, than you go on and say we should make good choices and help our kids and those less fortunate. Which one is it??

[Reef Pilot]

Originally Posted by reefermadness

So you are saying women should stop worrying about equal pay for equal work. Minorities should stop fretting about discrimination. African Americans should have been happy enough as slaves. People with out food and water should be thankful they have air. People who lost there life retirement savings or could not retire when they planned to because of the wallstreet crash should just be quite. Students with thousands of dollars in debt should be happy cause although they can't find a decent job in their field they do have a job (although its at walmart).

You start out by saying life is never fair and you shouldnt worry about it, than you go on and say we should make good choices and help our kids and those less fortunate. Which one is it??

Well, if I was going to fret about every bit of unfairness (in my opinion) I see in life, I would be a very unhappy person. Instead I choose to change things for the better and help people, with whatever choices and resources I can muster.

You probably won't agree with this either, but here is what Bill Gates said to some school kids some time ago (although the source may be in dispute):

----------Whether you like Bill Gates or not...this is pretty
cool. Here's some advice Bill Gates recently dished out
at a high school speech about 11 things they did not
learn in school. He talks about how feel-good,
politically correct teaching has created a full
generation of kids with no concept of reality and how
this concept sets them up for failure in the real
world.

RULE 1
Life is not fair - get used to it.

RULE 2
The world won't care about your self-esteem. The world
will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel
good about yourself.

RULE 3
You will NOT make 40 thousand dollars a year right out
of high school. You won't be a vice president with
car phone, until you earn both.

RULE 4
If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a
boss. He doesn't have tenure.

RULE 5
Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your
grandparents had a different word for burger flipping
they
called it Opportunity.

RULE 6
If you mess up,it's not your parents' fault, so don't
whine about your mistakes, learn from them.

RULE 7
Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as
they are now. They got that way from paying your bills,
cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about
how cool you are. So before you save the rain forest
from the parasites of your parent's generation, try
delousing the closet in your own room.


RULE 8
Your school may have done away with winners and losers,
but life has not. In some schools they have abolished
failing grades and they'll give you as many times as
you want to get the right answer. This doesn't bear the
slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.

RULE 9
Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get
summers off and very few employers are interested in
helping you find yourself. Do that on your own time.

RULE 10
Television is NOT real life. In real life people
actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.

RULE 11
Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for
one.

[reefermadness]

Originally Posted by Reef Pilot

Well, if I was going to fret about every bit of unfairness (in my opinion) I see in life, I would be a very unhappy person. Instead I choose to change things for the better and help people, with whatever choices and resources I can muster.

Again this is very confusing. If you are not concerned about anything why are you trying to change anything. Someone who is not concerned does nothing.

I'm no huge activist, far from it but at least I can look at this world and be concerned. I don't let it affect my daily life but I acknowledge the messed up stuff I witness/read and engage in a conversation about it sure. Maybe that will increase awareness. Like when I mentioned 18,000 children die of hungry related causes a day. I bet that blew the minds of a lot of people reading it. I know when I first read that statistic I was shocked.

You probably won't agree with this either, but here is what Bill Gates said to some school kids some time ago (although the source may be in dispute.

....the source is in dispute (Bill Gates did not say or write these words) by pretty much everyone.

http://urbanlegends.about.com/librar...tes_speech.htm
http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors...m#.UmAJLVP-tWo
http://www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/schoolrules.asp

[Reef Pilot]

Originally Posted by reefermadness

Again this is very confusing. If you are not concerned about anything why are you trying to change anything. Someone who is not concerned does nothing.

Well, fretting is not the same as being concerned. Of course, I am concerned. But my actions may be different than some others. Just talking about the problems won't solve them. We need to take actions and make decisions to make things better. And that includes utilizing the different knowledge/resources that we have as individuals in whatever field/career we may have chosen. We don't all have the same capabilities to help.

I believe in creating more wealth/assets for everyone to share. That helps the poor and improves everyone's quality of life, including around the world. Of course, there are wars and non democratic dictators/thugs out there that will thwart that.

That is in direct contrast to some who focus more on dividing up assets and redistributing wealth. Another way to look at it, is instead of just slicing up the pie, is create a bigger pie. If we don't grow our wealth and assets, we have less to give to the poor, and even support our own social services like health and education.

I guess that brings us back to corporations. I believe they are the most efficient and effective means to create more wealth and assets for everyone to share. Again, corporations are just a collection of people (or may be individuals) pooling their skills and resources. And competition is what makes corporations most productive. The bad ones just don't survive, unless they get some kind of protection or help from govts.

And just to be clear, I don't believe that everyone should be working for a corporation (whether large or as an individual). I do believe we also need govt services, including some research and development. And civil service is indeed an admirable career choice and profession. But there needs to be an affordable balance, that in the end supports overall growth and improved quality of life for everyone. That's what I am trying to say.